Tribunals in Wales

The Tribunal system in England has grown explosively, especially in the property sector. They are seen as a lower cost model by the government and, due to a slightly less formal structure, are purportedly easier for those without legal representation to access. However, their costs neutral approach means that there can be an inequality of arms between those who can afford, or who have their own in house legal representation, and those who have to manage for themselves. The fact that the work is not reserved to qualified lawyers has also meant a growth in unregulated and uninsured organisations offering tribunal representation with widely varying standards of quality. One of the main drivers to growth in England has been the unification of the Tribunals with a single overarching structure and then a division into “Chambers” to cover the various jurisdictions the Tribunal structure holds. This has allowed for flexibility in deploying judges to different Chambers to cover variations in workload and also given the Tribunals a more professional appearance which has helped to attract strong applications.

Wales has not had the same structure and has operated its Tribunals using the classical approach in which they are all entirely separate. Given its ambitions to an independent justice system this was always likely to change. However, it might be seen as a little disappointing that Wales is largely copying the model that has been operating in England for some time.

The new proposed model for Wales then is largely aping that in England. All existing tribunals will be part of a new First Tier Tribunal for Wales with separate chambers for each jurisdiction. There will be a new appeal Tribunal, akin to the Upper Tribunal in England that will hear appeals from the various FTT chambers.

The main objective of the changes is to ensure a coherence between the various chambers and create a more unified structure. Despite my slightly negative statement that this is merely copying England it is also a necessary pre-cursor for a modern and fully functional Tribunal system in Wales. With this in place Wales will be in a position to move to a far more independent justice system that uses the new Tribunal structure. There has been limited use of the Tribunals, by the Renting Homes (Wales) Act for example and this could be enhanced. A new Tribunal structure could give the Welsh Government the confidence to make full use of a fully Welsh justice system.